Heuer

Nobody is born a racecar driver – they come from all walks of life. Paul Newman famously did not discover racing until he was 44. In that same vein, Anthony ‘Tony’ Adamowicz, who was born to Polish immigrants in upstate New York would not discover racing until he was working for the United States Government as a White House employee during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations. Tony took to racing like a fish takes to water, and he progressed from racing a Volvo in amateur racing 1963 to a Porsche 911 in the Trans Am series of 1968.  

The 1968 season did not look to be a promising start for Tony, the Porsche, car No. 72, was wrecked at Daytona Speedway and did not finish (DNF). The next race was at Sebring, and yet another DNF. May of ’68 was the turning point though, 2nd in Class win at War Bonnet Raceway, then 1st in Class at Lime Rock Park, 2nd in Class at Mid-Ohio, 1st at Bridgehampton, the win’s kept coming. In his memoirs, Tony’s remembers: 

“The reason that we were so successful was that it was a total team effort. There was a lot of love and devotion put into our team and we felt nothing was impossible. It was the first time that I ever felt that I had some control over how the car was prepared.”

Trans Am is a competitive series. Tony was racing the small 2 liter Porsche against more powerful Corvette’s and Camaros, but his team's ability to set up the car, along with his natural ability at the wheel was unmatched. All season long he continued to rack up class wins and overall wins or second place overall wins. While Tony would ultimately fail to finish the last two races of the season, and did not even enter the very last race, he had clinched his place as champion of the ‘under 2 liter’ racing class in Trans Am. 

Along with the glory of victory, a Western-Union telegram showed up on December 3, 1968:

“Congratulations on being named the 1968 SCCA driver of the year and winning the motor/age award for outstanding effort in under two liters in SCCA Trans-Am presentation at the SCCA convention awards banquet.”

At that award banquet, Tony was presented with the present watch, a Heuer Autavia Ref. 3646 with the motor/age logo on the dial. The caseback engraved ‘1968 Tony Adamowicz Trans Am Driver of the Year SCCA” The 3646 Autavia already having a strong motorsport connection as we refer to the reference as the ‘Andretti’ for its connection to racing legend Mario Andretti who is frequently seen sporting the reference in period as well. Trophies come in all shapes and sizes, this one happens to come in 38mm of stainless steel. For while nobody is born a racer, Tony became one in the 1968 season, and this watch is tangible proof of that.

Western Union Telegram Image Courtesy of: a2zracer.com

Bridgehampton Trans-Am Photograph Courtesy of: Barry Tenin